


Each Breath You Take Is a Brand New Begin

by Lady_Ganesh



Category: Saiyuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:21:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29101683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Ganesh/pseuds/Lady_Ganesh
Summary: Gojyo's getting tired of his houseguest. But things are about to change.Title from "Under My Skin" by Jukebox the Ghost.
Relationships: Cho Hakkai/Sha Gojyo
Comments: 15
Kudos: 34
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Each Breath You Take Is a Brand New Begin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [opalmatrix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/gifts).



The thing was, Gojyo didn't really like living alone. As much has he liked how out of the way the house was, it meant the house got too quiet. It was nice having someone else around.

It was just that having _Banri_ around was a huge pain in the ass.

He'd sent him to get groceries--it wasn't like he worked, he might as well make himself useful--and now Gojyo was going through the market bags, remembering why he never sent Banri to get groceries. Gojyo wasn't the greatest cook, but at least he knew what a vegetable was. "Did we really need all this beer?"

"It won't go bad," Banri said. Gojyo noticed he'd helped himself to a magazine, too. He dropped onto the couch. "I got all the shit on the list."

Gojyo should have known better than to put _food for dinner_ on the list. Banri needed clearer instructions.

"That guy was at the market again," Banri said.

Gojyo hesitated before putting the beef into the fridge. "Yeah?"

 _That guy_ worked at the dumpling stand. He'd been around for maybe a month or two, and not every week. Banri had noticed Gojyo noticing. 

Banri was a pain in the ass.

"He used to be a teacher," Banri said, flpping idly through his magazine. "I bet the girls went nuts over him."

"Probably." Maybe that was why he _used_ to be a teacher. He didn't seem the type to mess around with a student, though. Seemed stuffy, buttoned-down. The kind of guy who'd complain when you didn't put your napkin on your lap. Or wherever it was supposed to be. "So I guess you want meat for dinner, because it's all you fucking bought."

"I bought carrots," Banri said.

"Yeah, I think we can each have half a carrot a day."

Banri ignored him.

Fuck it. The market was open for hours yet. Gojyo grabbed a bag. "I'm going to get us some fucking vegetables."

"Say hi to him," Banri said, flipping another page.

"Fuck you," Gojyo said.

The worst thing was that Banri had spent half their cash, too. He must have gambled it, or spent it on girls. Sometimes there'd be groups traveling through, setting up tents with dancers. Banri could probably drop Gojyo's whole budget in a couple of hours when he was feeling frisky. 

There was no sign of the dancers, though. Maybe he'd lost it gambling; sometimes he got it in his head he was as good at cards as Gojyo. 

Gojyo bought garlic, onions, some more carrots, a fat knob of ginger. Zhang had fresh eggs, and he picked up a dozen of those, too. 

"You've got that nice backyard," he said. "You want a rooster? Get a few hens, and you'll have everything you need." He winked. "You're one to have luck with the ladies."

"I've got all I can take care of now," Gojyo said.

"Your...guest going to stay much longer?"

"Don't know." Banri hadn't exactly been making friends in the village. "He helped me out when I was in a tough spot. Least I can do is give him a place to stay for a while, ya know?"

"Of course," Zhang said. "Still, we miss seeing you around."

"Don't worry. Your wallet feels too fat, I'll still take care of it for you."

Zhang laughed. The guy liked Gojyo, which Gojyo had never quite figured out, but it felt kind of nice. He'd started to belong, before Banri had crashed in and started fucking things up. But he owed Banri; he wasn't lying about that shit. And they'd had good times. He was fun to hang out with, get drunk with.

Gojyo took another look around the market before he headed home The dumpling stand was still open, _that guy_ and his pretty eyes smiling down at a hungry little girl.

 _Fuck you, Banri,_ he thought, and got in line.

"I don't cheat," the man told him, when he got up to the front of the line.

"...okay?"

His smile was as polite as ever, but those pretty eyes were _pissed._ "Your associate--"

"Banri?"

"--accused me of cheating. I don't cheat."

"You took his money?" _My money?_

"I hope you don't expect a refund," the man said shortly. This was new; normally the guy was so polite it was kind of farcial, like he was working at a fancy restaurant instead of a dumpling stand in the middle of nowhere. Turned out the guy had a spine in there. Wasn't that interesting.

Goyjo put his hands up in surrender. "I just wanted dumplings, man."

"I see." He looked skeptical. "How many and what kind?"

"Uh, half a dozen," he said. "The shrimp, please."

The man nodded and went to work. He wasn't a big guy--probably around Gojyo's height, but slim enough that it didn't really matter. His hands were long and graceful. Not that Gojyo was staring or anything, but he had to look at _something._ It was better than staring at his ass, anyway.

He paid for the dumplings, and sat on one of the benches to eat. The dinner rush hadn't started yet, so it was quiet.

"Was it your money?"

Gojyo didn't jump, but it was a close thing. The man might as well have materialized from thin air. Gojyo would've put it up to his being youkai, but the guy always had limiters on. "What?"

"Your...companion. Was he gambling with any of your money?"

 _All of it._ "Doesn't matter," Gojyo said. "I believe you. You won it, it's yours." He picked up the last dumpling. Shit, this guy was the best cook the market had ever had. Not even a contest.

"They say you're quite good yourself."

Gojyo looked up. The guy looked sincere. "I'm not bad. It's a living."

"Your companion--"

"He's just stayin' with me. We're not--" He didn't know how to end the sentence. Whatever the guy was thinking, they weren't. Not any more.

"Of course, it's no business of mine. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be in town, myself."

"Just passing through?"

"More or less." He paused for a second. "It was your money."

"It doesn't--"

"What about a game?"

"Only an idiot goes double or nothin'."

"No. He took--" The man reached into his pocket and counted out a stack of bills. Looked about right. "Here. Half for you, half for me. Bet what you choose. Best of three?"

"You don't need to do that," Gojyo said.

"No. I don't. But I confess it won't sit right with me if I don't."

"Suit yourself," Gojyo said.

He _was_ a good card player. Sharp, and had the devil's own luck. He didn't cheat, or if he did, he was the best fucking cheat Gojyo'd ever seen. He smiled the whole time he was doing it too, a faint, slightly amused smile that Gojyo would wanted to slap right off his face if they'd been at the club.

Somehow it was different when they were more or less playing for fun, in the daylight, without any of the usual crowd lurking around. Nobody to impress. Gojyo lost all three games, but he hadn't been dumb enough to put up the whole stake.

"You can have the rest of it," Gojyo said.

"No," the man said. "This is...fair, I think. I won't take his money again, unless I'm certain it's his."

"Well, all right." Gojyo gathered up his things. "Thanks for the games. And the dumplings."

"Of course," he said.

"Hey," Gojyo said, as the man turned away. "I've never gotten your name."

"Oh." The man blinked, as if he was surprised Gojyo was asking. "It's Hakkai. Cho Hakkai."

"Nice to meet ya, Cho Hakkai."

"Yes," he said. "LIkewise. Gojyo, isn't it?"

Gojyo nodded. "You want to--I don't know, get a drink sometime or something?"

Hakkai paused for a second. "I...don't think that would be a terribly good idea."

"Right," he said. "Of course." He wasn't the kind of guy former schoolteachers hung out with. He was the kind of guy guys like Banri hung out with. That wasn't gonna change, ever. "Have a good night."

"You as well," Hakkai said, and went back to work without looking back.

Banri gave him shit about how long he'd spent at the market, but Gojyo didn't tell him about the money he'd won back, and he read the magazine as much as Banri had, so Gojyo figured he had the better end of the deal. There was a whole photo shoot about a student getting seduced by her hot schoolmaster that was worth the price. If Gojyo spent more time on the hot teacher than the sexy student, well, fuck, that was Gojyo's business.

Not like Banri was too good to get his cock sucked anyway, no matter what shit he said when he was sober.

The next week, Hakkai wasn't at the stand, and Gojyo told himself he didn't care. He liked girls, anyway. No pretty face was about to change that.

On Friday, he went out and played cards. It was a pretty good night, and he'd won back most of what Banri had lost or wasted in the last month. He was feeling pretty good when he started walking home. Then the sky opened up and the rain hit.

He was close to drenched by the time he ran into the guy. Literally ran into him, as he was running in the other direction. "Hey," Gojyo said. "Watch where you're--"

"Get out of my way," the man said, almost screamed, and shoved at Gojyo.

That was weird. Gojyo kept going, a little more cautiously, but fuck it, he wanted to get home. His hair wouldn't dry out until morning, if then.

Then Gojyo almost stumbled over the other guy. "Hey," he said. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," came the voice. Familiar, but the tone was wrong. The guy sounded dreamy, lost.

"...Hakkai?"

"Oh," Hakkai said. "Gojyo, isn't it?"

Gojyo helped him up. "You hurt?"

"I'm fine," he said, still sounding distracted. "Oh. The rain--"

"Let's get you under cover, okay? I'm almost home." Fuck, he hoped Banri was still out. 

"You shouldn't--"

"It's shit out here. Come on."

Hakkai didn't protest. 

The house was empty when they got there, thank fuck. Gojyo grabbed the kitchen towel for his hair--fuck it, the thing was filthy anyway--and looked at Hakkai.

"It's kind of you," Hakkai said, "but you really didn't have to--"

His hands were red with blood, even after the rain. "Shit," Gojyo said. "We need to--"

"It's not mine," Hakkai said. "Don't worry."

Gojyo looked down and realized that his own chest was smeared with blood, right where the guy had run into him. Well. _Shit._

"I apologize," Hakkai said. "I'm quite good at getting out bloodstains."

Was he saying that to make Gojyo feel better? "Um. I'm just gonna throw on something dry. You want something? I think you're close enough to my size."

"I suppose I should." Hakkai sounded less dreamy. "Thank you. I really would have been--"

That was when the thunder hit. 

"Yeah," Gojyo said. He went into his room and pulled off his clothes, which were sticking to him from the wet and getting cold besides. He threw on his t-shirt from the day before and a pair of jeans that he used for chores. After a minute, he managed to find a pair of pants without holes and a clean t-shirt for Hakkai, then grabbed some dry shorts too, just in case. 

When he came out, Hakkai had found his way to the bathroom and was drying his hair with one of the bath towels. He'd already stripped down to his underwear. He was even skinnier than Gojyo would have guessed, and his rib cage on the left side was covered in scar tissue. It looked like something had tried to rip him in two. 

Gojyo made his best effort not to stare at any of it. "Here," he said, handing the dry clothes over. "They should work."

"Thank you," Hakkai said. "You didn't need to do...any of this."

"Eh, it's shit out there."

"I suppose you're right." 

Gojyo went over and filled up the kettle while Hakkai finished dressing. Gave him something to do with his hands. 

Meanwhile, Hakkai popped out his eye.

Gojyo thought he'd kept his face neutral, but Hakkai's eyebrows lifted, just a little.

"Oh," he said, mild as butter. "It's artificial."

"Yeah," Gojyo said. "I see that."

"Sometimes it needs cleaning, especially if--" 

"I bet."

Hakkai looked over Gojyo's kitchen towels, frowned, and headed back toward the bathroom.

_Joke's on you, they're not cleaner in there, either._

Whatever he found, he came back with his eye in. "Do you have a washer and dryer?"

"Yeah," he said. "Oh, we should dry the clothes."

"They'll need washing too," Hakkai said.

Before Gojyo had really caught on to what was happening, the laundry had been properly stain treated and started, the teapot was steeping, and Hakkai was shuffling cards at the kitchen table.

"I'm sorry," he said. "The rain--it unsettles me."

"It's all right," Gojyo said, and sat down.

They didn't play for money, which was just as well, because Hakkai won every fucking hand.

"Goddamn it," Gojyo said, stubbing out his cigarette in annoyance. "I make my living doing this, you know."

"Sorry," Hakkai said, and his smile quirked a little. "I have something of a knack for these things. But of course, even reading a game can only get you so far, without luck."

"Jack of all trades and master of none?"

For a second, Hakkai looked genuine, unmasked. "That's me, I suppose."

"Yeah. You and me both." He picked up the cards to shuffle again. "That what you do? Beat that guy at cards?" He meant to have it come out as a joke. It didn't, really.

"No," Hakkai said.

Gojyo went back to losing. The ashtray started filling up.

"I should go soon," Hakkai said. "I don't want to intrude on your hospitality."

"Not while it thunders."

Hakkai took the cards up and shuffled again. "I suppose not."

"If you want to crash, Banri's not coming back. He'd be home by now if he was."

That clearly made the offer more tempting. "Perhaps it'd be wiser. You probably need to rest."

"Probably," Gojyo said. Normally he slept until noon, but Hakkai didn't need to know that. "You can take the couch, or the bed. Don't think I have any clean sheets, sorry." At least he hadn't washed them that long ago. No more than a week or two.

"I don't want to remove you from your bed."

"It's fine," Gojyo said. "Just the night, right?"

Now he knew it was there, he could see the little extra shine from Hakkai's fake eye. "It's very kind of you," he said.

"It's fine," he said. 

"I'll be up for a while yet," Hakkai said. "Why don't I take the couch? That way you won't have to wait on me."

Gojyo nodded and got up. "Hey," he said. "The other night--"

"It's fine."

"I wasn't, like, hitting on you. If that's what--"

"I wasn't offended," Hakkai said. 

"Okay," Gojyo said. He brushed his teeth and went to bed.

The rain and thunder kept going; at one point the storm pretty much ended, then wrapped around again, louder than before. Once the thunder cracked so loud that Gojyo heard Hakkai in the next room, woken by the sound, or a nightmare.

"Hey," Gojyo called. "You okay?"

Silence.

The thunder rumbled again, quieter, and Gojyo heard Hakkai rising.

He was thinking about calling out again when Hakkai appeared in the door frame. The floorboard creaked.

"I'm sorry," Hakkai said. "It's been...as I said. The rain. It's difficult, sometimes."

"It's cool."

The next flash of lightning caught Hakkai walking toward the bed, and his weight hit the mattress as the thunder rumbled in. He'd taken his shirt off, and he wasn't wearing his glasses any more. "When I said no to you before. It wasn't. It wasn't lack of interest." Gojyo could hear him in the dark, feel the bed shift as he moved. 

"Yeah?" It felt like when he had a fish nosing around at the end of the line. Couldn't spook him. Just had to wait.

"The last year or so...I've been through many changes, I suppose."

Gojyo waited.

"I've never been with a man," he said.

"Yeah?"

"You must think I'm ridiculous."

"Nah." He shook his head, probably invisible in the dark. The bed creaked like it was ready to break. "You wanna come here?"

"I do," he said. 

He hadn't been sure if Hakkai would have any interest in kissing, but he went for Gojyo's mouth first, hot and wet and hungry. He pushed Gojyo's hair back from his face, straddled him over the blankets. Gojyo kissed back, and fuck, he'd wanted this for a while. He put his hands on Hakkai's ass and squeezed. 

"You're lovely," Hakkai said. "You're so--"

"You don't haveta say that shit. Just c'mere." 

Hakkai scrambled out of the rest of his clothes and slid under the blanket. Shit, he was skinny. Gojyo could feel his ribs when he put his hands on Hakkai's back. Hakkai thrust against him, rough, unfocused. Gojyo got his hand on Hakkai's cock, pushed it against his own so they could actually get something going. Hakkai made a tiny little gasp and thrust against him. He was shaky, uncertain, but fuck, he _wanted._

He smelled like rain and sweat and food. Gojyo'd known he'd smell good. Gojyo'd known he'd _feel_ good. He kissed like he was fucking dying. Gojyo kissed back and hung on.

Hakkai cried out, just once, when he came, and he sunk his mouth onto Gojyo's shoulder, sucking at the skin there until Gojyo was finished.

"Fuck," Gojyo said.

Hakkai laughed without humor. 

"You okay?"

"I'm not sure," he said. He dropped to Gojyo's side. They were gonna stick, probably, but the sheets had seen worse. "I should...the man. From earlier. I didn't beat him at cards."

"I guess I figured." He reached over for the cigarettes he kept by the bed.

"He wanted to kill me, for what I'd done to his family."

Gojyo lit a cigarette and waited him out.

"It's been a very long time since--" He hesitated. "I had someone. She was the world to me."

"I'm sorry."

The Hi-Lite was half burned down when Hakkai spoke again. "She was my sister," he said. "She was my first love. And my sister. And when she was taken from me..." He wasn't shaky now. He was steady, his breathing even. "I've killed a great many people."

Gojyo breathed out. The lightning had died down, and the ember at the end of his cigarette was the only bright thing in the room.

"It wasn't enough. I couldn't save her. It was...for nothing, and almost got me killed. I thought I would die, for a long time afterward. I wanted to, to be honest."

"I'm glad you didn't," Gojyo said, which didn't really feel like enough, but he had to say something.

"I'd do it again," Hakkai said. "I'd do it all again."

Gojyo stubbed out his cigarette.

Hakkai reached out and pulled Gojyo on top of him. 

And then he was in Gojyo, and it hurt a little, but not enough for Gojyo to want to stop. He rocked on Hakkai's cock, watched his face. Hakkai put his hand up and Gojyo sucked on his fingers. Hakkai moaned harder, thrust up into Gojyo. Fuck, it was good. Gojyo didn't go for guys very often. But this guy--

This guy.

Gojyo closed his eyes and moved.

Hakkai insisted on cleaning them both up after, and Gojyo'd been afraid he'd wander back to the couch, but he got back into the bed. He was warm, though Gojyo didn't risk snuggling up or anything.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked.

"Nah," Gojyo said. "I'm okay."

It probably should have been hard to fall asleep next to Hakkai, with what he'd told Gojyo. But it wasn't.

In the morning, the house smelled like frying meat, and when he got up Hakkai was making breakfast, back in his clothes from the night before. "The sheets on the couch are clean," he announced. "You should probably do yours now, while the dryer's hot."

"Uh, sure," he said. "Thanks." 

"You've sure got a good guest here," Banri said, from the corner, and it took fucking everything Gojyo had not to jump. "Makin' breakfast and everything."

"I explained to your companion--" Hakkai made the word sound like _cockroach--_ "that you were kind enough to offer me shelter when the storm hit."

"Yeah," Gojyo said. "I see you didn't make it back."

"Yeah, well, I had a girl who wanted to make it worth my while."

"I'm sure it was a pleasant evening," Hakkai said, blandly. 

Gojyo hadn't realized before that they fucking _hated_ each other. He felt fucking stupid for not having figured it out sooner. "Um, breakfast smells good."

Hakkai smiled back at him, and it felt different than the bland mask he showed customers. "It's the least I can do after your hospitality."

"Is it still raining?"

"Yep," Banri said. "Not like last night, but it's wet as fuck out there. Good thing our housewife here washed all the towels."

The crack of the egg against the pan was like a gunshot.

"You can borrow an umbrella, if you want."

"Perhaps I should," Hakkai said.

Banri noticed the hitch in Gojyo's walk but chalked it up to running home in a thunderstorm. "I don't know what you see in a guy like that," he said, as Gojyo took the fresh sheets out of the dryer. Gojyo couldn't remember the last time they'd smelled that good.

"Like what?"

"Perfect little housewife. All sweet and soft. Even puts on limiters like he's some kind of pet."

 _I'd do it again,_ Gojyo thought. "I just got him out of the rain."

"I'm going out," Banri said. "That job--I've got shit to do. Anyone asks, you haven't seen me."

"Got it."

"I guess I can thank him for breakfast. He's a better cook than you are, that's for damn sure."

"At least I can cook, asshole."

Banri waved his hand, like only little people dealt with shit like cooking, and grabbed his jacket. "He took our only fucking umbrella," he said.

"He'll bring it back."

"Whatever."

The thing was, Gojyo didn't really like living alone. The place got too quiet, and he wasn't a good enough housekeeper to bring girls back. But Banri was more fucking trouble than he was worth. He was kidding himself pretending otherwise. One of these days, somebody was actually going to come along asking questions, and Gojyo sure as fuck didn't have the answers. One of these days, somebody was going to expect Gojyo to pay one of Banri's bills, and Gojyo was gonna come up short.

Hakkai had scrubbed the kitchen counter, and the drainer was full of drying dishes. Gojyo grabbed a towel and started putting them away. It was nicer with shit in place. He lit a cigarette--fuck, Hakkai had even found an ashtray Gojyo hadn't seen in months--and took out the trash while he was at it. The rain was still falling, but it was gentle and steady. Not bad at all, really. He could start a stew. Maybe Hakkai would be back that night with the umbrella.

Maybe he wouldn't come back at all.

Fucking umbrella was ready to fall apart anyway.

It wasn't like he'd slept that much the night before, so he took a nap. He woke up still a little sore, but less tired, and he got ambitious and cleaned out the fridge. He was taking out the bag of trash when he almost ran into the guys who were ready to knock on his door.

"Where's Banri?" one of them asked.

"Fucked if I know," he said. "Haven't seen him."

He got almost out to the garbage bins before the first guy grabbed his arm. 

Gojyo could put up a good fight. Bad news was, they could too.

It wasn't like Gojyo's hands were clean or anything, but he'd never stolen from the people he'd been stealing _with._ That was asking for trouble. And Banri had sure as fuck found trouble. 

They dragged him back into the house and tied him to a chair. They must have figured Banri would be coming back, and Gojyo wasn't about to tell them otherwise. He and Banri had run with smarter crooks back in the day.

His face hurt a little bit. Definitely had a cut over his lip. Maybe a black eye. After a while all the pain blurred together. The first time Banri had patched him up, he'd said it happened because your face gave up and stopped bothering to keep track.

 _You look trustworthy,_ he'd said. _I don't have anybody on my crew like that right now._

It'd been fun while it lasted. Beating people at their own game. Pretending to be the innocent he'd never been. 

The past year he'd started thinking maybe things would be different. He'd put down roots. The cards weren't exactly _honest_ work, but it wasn't stealing. He wouldn't have to skip town when things got too hot.

But he'd known that it would end like this, him holding the bag, Banri nowhere to be seen.

There was a knock at the door, soft and polite.

"Don't let him in," Gojyo said.

"Oh?" The guy nearest the door raised his eyebrows. "Let's see what's so interesting, huh?"

Gojyo got as far as Hakkai's name before someone hit him again. Maybe it had sounded like a warning. Gojyo hoped.

"Is everything all right?" came that mild, gentle voice. "I thought I heard someone shouting."

"Everything's fine," said the guy who'd been near the door. "You want to come on in, have a chat?"

"I'm just here to return an umbrella."

"Get him the fuck in here," said the guy who'd just hit Gojyo.

"Gojyo," Hakkai said, as they pulled him in. "Do be careful. I'd prefer not to hurt you."

Gojyo didn't understand until he realized Hakkai had already pulled off an earcuff.

It was funny, things got so loud, but Gojyo still thought he heard each of them as they clattered to the floor.

"At least you taught me how to get bloodstains out," Gojyo said.

"Did I? I rather think I mostly took them out myself," Hakkai said. "Are there...local authorities we should consult?"

"I think these guys were stealing from the local priests. Maybe we tell them?"

"Oh," Hakkai said. "Were they?"

Gojyo'd never been to the big temple at Chang'An. Never really seemed like his kind of place. The head priest didn't do anything to change that impression. He was pretty like broken glass, violet eyes, white-blond hair, permanent scowl. The rapidly filling ashtray did make the guy seem less heavenly than the white silk robes suggested.

"...and of course the broken umbrella," Hakkai was saying.

"You want the temple to pay for the fucking umbrella."

"We did find several of the missing artifacts," Hakkai said.

"Hey, Sanzo, you didn't tell me Hakkai was here!" 

Gojyo turned around.

The kid in the doorway was a teenager, maybe fifteen. He had a limiter that was as golden and shiny as the crown the priest wore. 

"Oh," the kid said. "Hey."

"Goku," the priest said. "Why don't you show our guest around the temple?" His tone suggested that Gojyo and the temple deserved each other.

"Yeah, sure." He bounced over to Gojyo. "'M Goku."

"Gojyo," he said, getting up. Hakkai was going to be producing annotated receipts for a while yet. "You live here?"

"Sure do," he said. "C'mon, the sun's still out, you should see the garden."

They came back with oranges, because Goku had said, with the wisdom of a kid, that Sanzo was going to get hungry, and his mood only got worse when he was hungry. Gojyo didn't want to gamble with _that._

They seemed to have finished their low-key argument, at any rate. Sanzo was on yet another cigarette, and Hakkai was counting out a respectable stack of bills. "Ah, you're back," he said.

"Shit, Monkey, do you ever stop eating?"

"We brought enough for everyone," Goku said, unflappable. He tossed the priest an orange.

Sanzo caught it easily. "We should have some real food."

"I suppose I missed my shift," Hakkai said, thoughtfully. "I could cook for us, if you'd like. If we go back to Gojyo's house, we could fix the door as well."

Sanzo looked skeptical.

"I believe there's pork in the refrigerator," Hakkai added. "And we might be able to get some soft-shelled crab if we hurry."

Sanzo stubbed out his cigarette. "Fine."

"I thought," Hakkai said, adjusting the bag of crabs in his arms, "that I might stay with Gojyo for a while. If he is amenable to it, of course."

"You sure that's wise?" Sanzo asked.

"Well," Hakkai said, "I'm certain no one has ever come to me for wisdom. But I do think I've been at the temple long enough."

"They'd only complain about me, then," Goku said. "Right?"

"They'll complain about anything," Sanzo said. "But...fine."

"But it's also up to Gojyo, of course--"

"If you're cooking, it sounds good to me."

"He's such a good cook!" Goku said. "We have to sneak most of the stuff into the temple, though."

"You bring the groceries, you can come over," Gojyo said. "Long as Hakkai's willing to cook."

"And you'll keep teachin' me math, right?"

"You'd fucking better," Sanzo said.

"You really were a teacher, huh?"

"I was."

"He's a real good teacher," Goku said. 

"Yeah," Gojyo said. "I bet he is."


End file.
